Smartphone thefts becoming more common in Connecticut, nation

NEW HAVEN -- If you feel safer talking to your boyfriend on the phone while walking across the Green at night during your journey home, think again.

Following a national trend, about one-third of all muggings and robberies in the city involve cellphones -- a phenomenon known in nefarious and law enforcement circles as "Apple picking."

Smartphones -- which can be resold by thieves for hundreds of dollars -- have become a favorite target, particularly Apple's popular iPhone.

"What you have is a black market for the smartphone, and, in particular, the iPhone," said New Haven police Sgt. Al Vazquez, who heads the detective division.

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A newer-model phone can fetch a robber a quick $200 or so at some mobile phone stores that buy used phones with no questions asked. Even at that price, the store can still sell it for a profit, Vazquez said.

But by no means is the problem exclusive to New Haven.

This week, speaking before the International Association of Chiefs of Police, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said thefts of Apple products, including iPhones and iPad tablets, have jumped by 40 percent this year in New York. The release of the new iPhone 5 isn't expected to reduce those numbers.

According to Kelly, were it not for Apple-related thefts and robberies, the overall crime rate in New York City would have fallen so far this year. As it is, the crime rate has increased by about 4 percent.

Even tracking devices, such the Find My iPhone app, offer no guarantee: The tracker won't work when the phone is off, and if a stolen phone isn't password protected, a thief who knows his way around an iPhone can manually disable the feature, Vazquez said.

Some statistics from the Federal Communications Commission might help illustrate the scope of the problem.

According to the FCC, the percentage of Americans with smartphones doubled in the last year, going from about 25 percent of subscribers to more than 50 percent. Commercial tablets didn't even exist in early 2010, and Apple sold 2 million iPads in one weekend.

"But the rapid adoption of smartphones and tablets is also creating very real safety concerns. The numbers are alarming," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowksi said earlier this year. "In (Washington) D.C., New York and other major cities, roughly 40 percent of all robberies now involve cellphones -- endangering both the physical safety of victims and the safety of the personal information on stolen devices."

New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman said there's certainly a black market for smartphones, but said some of the phones also are being stolen to use, since certain phones convey status. He likened the current issue to problems with car thefts in the 1980s. Police alone didn't cut down on thefts but rather it was a collaboration with the auto industry to install anti-theft devices such as kill switches and, later, newer technology.

He said police will pursue the same type of cooperation from the cellphone industry.

While it is not yet instituted, the FCC and the four largest wireless carriers are working to create a national database aimed at helping to reduce thefts. The concept is simple: The four carriers will create databases and prevent phones that are reported stolen from being reactivated by a new user.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon and Sprint already block stolen phones from being reactivated, while AT&T and T-Mobile do not.

The hope is that preventing reactivation will drive down black market values, which may serve as a deterrent to criminals.

According to Vazquez, officials from Yale University and the police department tried to create a dialogue recently with Apple corporate offices, perhaps to have employees ask for identification when someone seeks to trade in or wipe the memory of a phone.

Apple also has worked to build theft deterrents into its devices. In 2009, the company launched a Find My iPhone service that helps users track and remotely lock and wipe devices that have been lost or stolen.

To try to combat thefts, the NYPD set up booths outside Apple stores where gleeful New Yorkers were buying the new iPhone 5 last month, to give owners information on how to activate technology that would help recover lost or stolen phones. Police also registered cellphone serial numbers along with the owners' names and contact information. So far, the department has registered more than 1,500 new phones -- and owners can have their items engraved with a unique number prefaced with "NYC."

Authorities say part of the problem is that people are paying too much attention to their phones and not enough attention to their surroundings.

Walking down Broadway recently, Alex McLeod, 18, a Yale freshman, had his head down, tapping on the keyboard of his iPhone. He probably wouldn't do that at night, he said, if he were walking downtown.

At freshman orientation, he said, campus officials cautioned students about "being smart walking around by not showing off their valuables," he said. "A phone certainly is a valuable."

Call William Kaempffer at 203-789-5727. The Associated Press contributed to this story.